1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to hand tools, and more particularly relates to hand tools for beveling the edges of a pipe.
2. Background Art
Most plumbing systems today use plastic pipes. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the most common type of plastic pipe in use at the current time to supply fresh water. When a water line breaks and causes a leak, a repair crew must dig a hole near the suspected leak, uncover the pipe at the location of the leak, and repair the damaged pipe by replacing the damaged portion of pipe with a good portion of pipe. This is typically done by uncovering a section of pipe that includes good pipe on both sides of the damaged portion, hand excavating underneath the pipe, the using a hack saw to cut the pipe in two places to remove the damaged section of pipe. A good section of pipe is then cut to replace the damaged section, and splices are used to attach the existing pipe to the new replacement section of pipe.
The process of installing the new section of pipe and the splices is made much easier if the ends of the cut pipe sections are beveled. By beveling the ends of the pipe, a splice goes on the pipe much easier. Most pipe repair crews use a large, hand-held file to bevel the edges of the pipe. This, however, is an inefficient process, because the space in a trench is typically limited, making the use of a large file difficult. In addition, using a hand-held file results in a bevel that is usually not even around the perimeter of the end of the pipe. Without a way to more efficiently bevel the end of a pipe, the repairing of plastic pipe will continue to be a manual and difficult process.